A New Way to Record: The Mixer! And.. STEREO!

We've been working on this new feature for a long time now, and we're happy to introduce new recording options in our recording system. This improved system has a new tool for everyone to use: The Mixer!

Until now, you've always needed to record your voice and the music at the same time. For many of you, this works very well and if you're happy with your sound, you don't need to change a thing. However, this approach can present a couple of problems:

- the recording is mono - the voice level vs music level can sometimes be difficult to balance- some computers, notably Windows Vista, do not have the ability to record the music (no "what-u-hear" or "stereo mix" on their soundcard)- a USB microphone doesn't work very well

Well, no more! The Mixer changes the "See The Results" step in the recording process. Now, simply record your song and on the next step, you're given the option to hear the music along with your voice by clicking "Enable Music". This is the main feature of The Mixer: it lets you preview your recording with the music mixed in!

To coincide with this new preview system, we're also introducing an exciting new feature for Gold members: STEREO! All Gold members will hear stereo tracks when recording their song. Then, in The Mixer, their voice will be mixed together with the stereo music to create a stereo recording! See the difference:

- now all new recordings from Gold members will be in STEREO- the voice level is super easy to adjust after your recording is made; no more doing 5 takes to get the level right!- users with Windows Vista, USB microphones and sound cards that can't record the music will get GREAT sound quality!

Here's how it works:

If you want to use this new way of recording, you might have to adjust your sound card settings. You'll want to select "Mic" instead of "Stereo Mix" in your sound card's control panel. Now, when you record, the level meter will only move when you sing or speak into the mic; it won't move when the music is playing.

Next, record a song. Start with a song you really know well so that it's easier. When you get to the "See The Result" page, you'll see The Mixer. The first time, there will be no check in the "Enable Music" area. If you hit the play button right now, you should hear ONLY your voice, no music. (Or at least, barely any music.)

Now, click "Enable Music". After a moment, you'll hear the music and your voice mixed together! You can adjust the volume of your voice or the music by moving the slider left or right.

There are two other important features: the Preview Accuracy light, and the Adjust Timing control.

When the Preview Accuracy light is green, it means that what you are hearing is what your recording will sound like when you save it. Essentially, it means that the preview is accurate at that moment. If it turns yellow or red, wait until it goes back to green before judging whether it sounds good or not.

Sometimes, your voice will sound a little early or late compared to the music. If you feel your voice timing is off, click the "Adjust Timing" checkbox. Use the "+" and "-" button to make your voice play later or earlier in the mix. You'll notice that the green Voice box below will move, showing how the sound will be affected. You can also enable lyrics with the "A" button to show them on screen to help you judge your timing.

What if this is too hard, or I'm having problems?

This is the greatest part of The Mixer: if you uncheck "Enable Music" then it works just like the old system. So, set your sound card up the way you had it, uncheck "Enable Music" and record just like you've been doing for the past few years!

We'll try to answer all the questions about this in the forums and make improvements as they are needed.

Thanks Jason but now what do we that use our soundcards for our reverb etc do?...if we check mic we lose that and if we click what you hear or stereo to use thise functions we get double tracks? It sounds great having a stereo back but if your voice sounds flat and mono its not that nice a finished product. It seems if you want you voice to sound nice you have to stick with the old recorder

Thanks Jason but now what do we that use our soundcards for our reverb etc do?...if we check mic we lose that and if we click what you hear or stereo to use thise functions we get double tracks? It sounds great having a stereo back but if your voice sounds flat and mono its not that nice a finished product. It seems if you want you voice to sound nice you have to stick with the old recorderChanda1003

yes i lost my reverb but......

if after you record, you re-record it by using 'what hear' and not mute mic in the mixer...should work. i tried it...

Hello All I live in Canada and I got the new recorder about 30 to 45 mins ago but can't use it. lol Tried to test it out but for some reason, it will not let me record. everytime i hit the record button, i keep getting connection failed. It won't even let me record in mono now as well. lol i can play, but not record. Also after i get connection failed, my pc completely freezes. this just happens when i try to record either way with the player. I even tried waiting about 15 mins and tried again. Still the same thing. if anyone else is having this problem, please let me know.

Then surely , is it not misleading to tell everyone that, " now all new recordings from Gold members will be in STEREO. "?

Should it not rather read:

" now all new recordings from Gold members will be a resident STEREO track with a MONO overlaid vocal recording "?

Just saying.

MALEVANS

Maybe that will be something that will happen later on here, I don't know, but I will say that the backing tracks do sound a lot better in stereo and I have had very few problems with testing out the tracks, a few syncing issues, but apart from that I think it is very good.

Well, just made my first test recording, and since I'm using an X-FI Elite soundcard which has got brilliant effects, I expected it to be simple to record my mono voice with reverb over the stereo track. But it seems I can set all effects on the mic input, except reverb, which is actually the effect I only use... Got a workaround though... I select "what u hear" and record with the music level barely hearable...

I took "mono-vocal" to mean that any voice recording is centred in the middle, and also people who do not have external mixers will not be able to use their reverb settings on their soundcards, unless they use stereo mix/what you hear instead of mic in(and that often results in the "doubling up" of both stereo tracks and soundcard input)Did I just make that as clear as mud?

Thank you Jason ..... maybe it should also be amended in the newsletter too.

No Novella ..... reverb can be used at the point of record if you have it available on either your soundcard or mixer, it just doesn't sound as 'wide' as it would if your vocal could be recorded in stereo. There is an issue however in Vista as has been explained above.

This is REALLY fun. And a challenge. Now with a little work (and all your help), I'll be able to make recordings like those friends of ours who've helped you to perfect this awesome enhancement to SingSnap~ *smile*

Help me out here...If you have a sound card that gives the 'Karaoke' tab (i.e. the Soundblaster Live), why would the recording not pick-up the effects? I thought they were vocal effects, essentially applied to what is coming through the mic.

I am at work so won't have a chance to try the mixer out until later but I am looking forward to trying it out.

Ok Everyone with the New Mixer you will not be able to use Onboard sound FX in a Stereo Recording. The New Mixer uses Mic only so it bypasses the FX. Your Onboard FX are only applied to your sound output. If you want to use you FX you will have to change back to Stereo Mix and in the Preview Player untick the Enable Music. This means you will be recording in Mono though.

You guys are correct about the effects.. most inexpensive sound cards apply the effects to the output stage, but do not capture the audio with those effects applied.

(It is a good technical reason they do this, I won't get into here.)

What that means is you have a choice:

- record with no effects in stereo (gold only)- use effects, but don't "Enable Music" (recommended for blues)- use effects, but turn the music way down while you're recording. if you turn your speakers up loud enough or use headphones, this might work (but is a workaround)

I am very happy to have Stereo and the mixer...I was fortunate to have learned about it when I was visiting my son a month or so ago...he already had this and showed me everything...I love it and want to thank the staff of SS for giving this to us...God Bless...Audrey

If you rely on echo / reverb through software, then you will have to record as you have always recorded using "what u hear / stereo mix" as your recording device. You will then be recording BOTH MIC and MUSIC. Then on the preview screen ... DO NOT TICK THE 'ENABLE MUSIC' otherwise you'll be adding music to the music you already recorded !! <=== you won't get stereo tracks with this method though ... even if you are GOLD!

HOWEVER ....

If you are just using USB mic ... or your mic is plugged in via a mixer to get your effects .... then your recording device should be set to MIC so that you only record vocals. Then .. on the preview screen - TICK THE 'ENABLE MUSIC' box so that the music can be mixed with your vocal. You may now have to "adjust timing" on the vocals to the music ... but if you are gold, you'll have a nice stereo track. If you're blue ... you'll have it in mono but this should signal an end to all those "tinny sounding recordings" that some people have had to put up with.

+++++++++++++++++++

BUT ..... in the preview screen ... HIT the STOP button and WAIT for the entire track to load BEFORE you start messing with any synch / timing adjustments ...

It makes the quiet parts loud and the loud parts quiet, so they all end up at the same level. Early Alanis Morrisette used VERY heavy compression as a good example. You can hear her wail a note out but then hear her gasp for air in between the words, loudly. The effect ends up being very "studio" sounding, and makes it a lot easier to get the levels right.

Help me out here...If you have a sound card that gives the 'Karaoke' tab (i.e. the Soundblaster Live), why would the recording not pick-up the effects? I thought they were vocal effects, essentially applied to what is coming through the mic.

I am at work so won't have a chance to try the mixer out until later but I am looking forward to trying it out.

Kevin_PKevin_P

The reverb is applied to all of it( music & voice) not just your voice. So, if it is set to MIC only, then the effects don't work on SS. You personaly can still hear the reverb but since the reverb is for ALL, when set to mic only it does not record it.( I wish I could explain the why but I can't. I understand it but not good at explaining lol) If you leave your reverb on and listen to someone who doesn't have reverb on their recordings, you will still hear the reverb on them as well, it applies it to everything. If they had made the sound card to w here you could choose that only your mic had reverb, than this would not be a problem with the new mixer. BUT that is how they made them, for both music and voice. If you want to record in stereo and have reverb, my best guess would be to get a mixer or do as stated above by Jason.

This reverb problem is exactly why I knew I should have volunteered to test! I can't use it, because you guys settled for not having the reverb work! Oh well, don't vote, can't complain I guess!Burnsy

Hi Burnsy, the reverb problem was identified almost immediately in testing. It's not so much a bug that testing would have cleared up but a limitation to some of the technology. In order to allow for the track mixing the effects that some of these sound cards produced had to be sacrificed. It's an unfortunate either-or situation.

Reverbs have been successfully applied by those with an external mixer as you've read above. I've also been able to add the effect with my mac using audio hijack pro (mac users can PM me)

well as i stated it's an either-or situation due to the hardware so you can still do the old stereo mix mono recording *shrugs* wasn't really anything any of testers could do but ask the same questions you are.

We've been working on this new feature for a long time now, and we're happy to introduce new recording options in our recording system. This improved system has a new tool for everyone to use: The Mixer!

Until now, you've always needed to record your voice and the music at the same time. For many of you, this works very well and if you're happy with your sound, you don't need to change a thing. However, this approach can present a couple of problems:

- the recording is mono - the voice level vs music level can sometimes be difficult to balance- some computers, notably Windows Vista, do not have the ability to record the music (no "what-u-hear" or "stereo mix" on their soundcard)- a USB microphone doesn't work very well

Well, no more! The Mixer changes the "See The Results" step in the recording process. Now, simply record your song and on the next step, you're given the option to hear the music along with your voice by clicking "Enable Music". This is the main feature of The Mixer: it lets you preview your recording with the music mixed in!

To coincide with this new preview system, we're also introducing an exciting new feature for Gold members: STEREO! All Gold members will hear stereo tracks when recording their song. Then, in The Mixer, their voice will be mixed together with the stereo music to create a stereo recording! See the difference:

- now all new recordings from Gold members will be in STEREO- the voice level is super easy to adjust after your recording is made; no more doing 5 takes to get the level right!- users with Windows Vista, USB microphones and sound cards that can't record the music will get GREAT sound quality!

Here's how it works:

If you want to use this new way of recording, you might have to adjust your sound card settings. You'll want to select "Mic" instead of "Stereo Mix" in your sound card's control panel. Now, when you record, the level meter will only move when you sing or speak into the mic; it won't move when the music is playing.

Next, record a song. Start with a song you really know well so that it's easier. When you get to the "See The Result" page, you'll see The Mixer. The first time, there will be no check in the "Enable Music" area. If you hit the play button right now, you should hear ONLY your voice, no music. (Or at least, barely any music.)

Now, click "Enable Music". After a moment, you'll hear the music and your voice mixed together! You can adjust the volume of your voice or the music by moving the slider left or right.

There are two other important features: the Preview Accuracy light, and the Adjust Timing control.

When the Preview Accuracy light is green, it means that what you are hearing is what your recording will sound like when you save it. Essentially, it means that the preview is accurate at that moment. If it turns yellow or red, wait until it goes back to green before judging whether it sounds good or not.

Sometimes, your voice will sound a little early or late compared to the music. If you feel your voice timing is off, click the "Adjust Timing" checkbox. Use the "+" and "-" button to make your voice play later or earlier in the mix. You'll notice that the green Voice box below will move, showing how the sound will be affected. You can also enable lyrics with the "A" button to show them on screen to help you judge your timing.

What if this is too hard, or I'm having problems?

This is the greatest part of The Mixer: if you uncheck "Enable Music" then it works just like the old system. So, set your sound card up the way you had it, uncheck "Enable Music" and record just like you've been doing for the past few years!

We'll try to answer all the questions about this in the forums and make improvements as they are needed.

Note: This topic subject has been moderated.jason

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!! It works GREAT!!! Now I can use my laptop! I love it. I am going to resign up with Sing Snap Gold now. Thank you for making it possible for EVERY to record! And to think, I was going to try a different site! Not anymore. Sing Snap has been and will ALWAYS be the BEST site on the web for karaoke!! Thanks again!! My "Sing Snap" computer only ran at 500 Mhz so I couldn't do videos, but now I can!!!

And while you may miss your reverb to try stereo you gotta admit it's cool seeing posts like this one here ^^^^^ where other users are able to really improve their sound quality. I'm sure we all want this perfect for us but Jason and team have done a great job of really improving the experience for all users, even for those whom "reverb" means singing in the bathroom or hallway.